Conventional heat sources presently use radiant, resistive, infra red, quartz and other sources of energy similar in nature using electrical current produced or procured from standard residential or commercial electrical power distribution sources, or from fossil-fueled heat sources or burners. An exemplary conventional system supplies current through a resistive material to heat the material. Air or other convective medium is then used to transfer the heat from the resistive material to a remote location of interest. Such systems are extremely inefficient as there is substantial loss in heating the resistive material and transporting the heat convectively to the remote location.
Induction heating uses a magnetically conductive material, such as a ferrous metal, metal compound, or metal alloy, by inducting circulating currents within the material (the receptor) using an alternating magnetic field. An exemplary conventional induction heating system is for cook oven surfaces that directly heat the cookware within the magnetic field produced by an alternating current supplied to a ferrous metal pan positioned on the cook surface. These however require special cookware. Typically, magnetic induction devices are single purpose systems built specifically for an identified application where a single heating parameter is specified. Also, since the heated material must be within the magnetic field created by an alternating magnetic field to generate heat, these systems require substantial space at the location of generating heat. These systems therefore are typically limited to larger heating systems where heat is provided in a limited and immediate space.